What do you use to identify another person? Probably things like their hair, face structure, voice, amongst others. Using multiple sensory inputs is called cross modal recognition and helps an organism identify relevant entities in their environment, making the process faster and more efficient. We know some animals have the ability to identify things this way, which requires a mental model of the entity, and possibly that they create a label in their mind of the entity that incorporates the different factors they use to ID them. But it is very difficult to prove what and animal is thinking in their mind - how do we know they have a label, or concept of an individual in this way? We know bottlenose dolphins have acoustic labels for individuals known as signature whistles (basically names), but do they use other cues as well? This study delves into this idea and whether bottlenose dolphins can 1. identify individuals by tasting their urine (gustatory) and 2. have a concept of an individual in their mind that includes both the chemical (urine) and acoustic (signature whistles) cues to that individual. Join us as we learn about this very interesting study and the implications for what this means in terms of animal intelligence/awareness.

Paper freely available: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm7684#:~:text=Here%2C%20we%20demonstrate%20that%20bottlenose,only%20social%20recognition%20in%20animals

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Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!    

This episode: False killer whale

Here is a good picture of the wholfin we mention: https://pictures.blueplanetarchive.com/image/I0000qJocYgXPYRI

This episode we are interviewing Stacia from the Humane Nature podcast and Stumble Safari Blog!  Dr. Cindy Elliser was on her podcast a few weeks ago discussing the ethics of swimming with dolphins ecotourism. With her podcast and blog Stacia is trying to educate people about the do's and don'ts around ecotoursim and the science behind why we should do things a certain way, for both the health and safety of the animals and the human visitors. She has a background in biopsychology, veterinary technician, and travelling around the world. Join us as we learn more about Stacia, how she got to where she is (instead of becoming a vet!), how to identify the good and bad ecotoursim opportunities (it isn't always easy!), why it is so important to educate people about ecotourism and more!

Be sure to check out her blog HERE and podcast HERE!

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WARNING: This episode discusses the killing of a killer whale calf, with some graphic descriptions of the event.

Infanticide, or a member of a population (usually a male) killing the young of another female, has been documented in some species. The reasons behind this behavior can vary, but it is often thought to increase the males' chance of mating with the female (by making her go back into estrous) and siring offspring, thus increasing his fitness by increasing his genes in the population. This behavior has only been documented (or suggested) in a few cetacean species. This low occurrence may be because it is rare in these species, or because of the difficulty in observing cetaceans at sea, both in terms of time on the water, and being able to see what is happening below the surface. This paper documents the rare event where researchers observed the killing of a killer whale calf, only a few days old, by a mature adult male and his mother (who was no longer reproductively active).  Join us as we discuss what happened, the possible reasons behind the behavior and why this type of behavior is important to understand.

Paper freely available: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22714-x

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Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!

This episode: The grey/gray seal

Learn more about the mystery of the corkscrew seals we discuss at the end (links to scientific paper): https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/grey-seal

Here are some other videos we reference in the acoustic section:

Clapping video: https://youtu.be/69n8jnFTmBg

Learning to mimic notes: https://youtu.be/_-lH7kfy7TA 

Poop, aka scat, can tell us a lot about a species. In particular, it is one of the best ways for us to understand what that species eats. Want to know about the diet of a given species? Collect some poop and find out. But one of the limitations of traditional methods of diet analysis is that they can tell you occurrence, but not how much (what percentage) that prey species makes up of the diet. This is critical to understand for ecosystem dynamics and managing populations. In the Salish Sea there is particular interest in who is consuming the most salmon (particularly species like Chinook, Coho and Steelhead).  In trying to manage salmon populations to save the Southern Resident Killer Whales (who eat mainly Chinook), other species have come under attack for the reason that salmon populations are crashing. One of these species is the harbor seal.  Join us as we learn about a new diet analysis study using DNA metabarcoding (from scat), and how it can help us better understand the diet of Salish Sea harbor seals, how much of each species they are eating, if that includes a significant amount of salmon that could negatively affect those fish populations, and how this dataset can continue to help us answer questions like these in the future.

Paper freely available: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-022-01152-5

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Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!    

This episode: The Bearded Seal

We are excited to talk with Casey Mclean the Executive Director and Veterinary Nurse for SR3!  You may be surprised to find out, but until last year there was no hospital dedicated to treating marine mammals in the Pacific Northwest. Sick animals bigger than harbor seal pups had to be transferred to other hospitals, often in CA - a ride that an already stressed animal doesn't need to take. Casey worked for many years to change this, and in 2020 SR3 opened their hospital Des Moines, WA and have already treated many harbor seals, a sea turtle and a guadalupe fur seal. But they do more than just rehab:

Responding to stranded or injured marine wildlife throughout the Pacific Northwest, including disentangling sea lions and whales from ocean trash and fishing gear.

Rehabilitating sick and injured marine animals to give them a second chance at life in the wild.

Researching the health of Southern Resident killer whales and other cetaceans (dolphins, whales and porpoise) to inform conservation efforts.

Working with tribes and other local communities to support wildlife health and community involvement.

Educating to reduce human-wildlife conflict to promote healthy marine wildlife and healthy human communities.

Join us as we learn about Casey and how she came to this mission of helping the marine animals of the Salish Sea, about SR3 and the amazing work they are doing and why education is so important to this work.

Learn more at: https://www.sealifer3.org/ and if you are able, help them continue their important work here.

Join Pacific Mammal Research (PacMam) scientists to learn about different marine mammals! We discuss a little about the biology, behavior and fun facts about each species. Have fun and learn about marine mammals with PacMam!   

Music by: Josh Burns 

This episode: The Fin Whale

Check out this book if you are interested in learning more about the issues surround vessel strikes and entanglement: https://www2.whoi.edu/staff/mmoore/we-are-all-whalers/

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We are very excited to talk with Richard Riels the Founder, Executive Director and VP of Research and Development and Lead Engineer of SMELTS - Sea Mammal Education Learning Technology Society (a 501c3 nonprofit). Smelts has developed a patent pending ropeless lobster retrieval and marking technology that allows fishermen to fish and whales to live without the danger of entanglement. This amazing technology helps save whales by removing fixed gear lines (connecting the pots to the buoys) that threaten many species, and in particular the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. Rich and his team have also developed a deployment rig for researchers to deploy passive acoustic devices without the need of lines and buoys - we partnered with them and tested our first deployment the summer of 2021!  By working with fishermen, engineers, hardware/software companies and researchers, SMELTS is helping to pave the way for ropeless gear to be the standard.  Learn more about how all this works, how he got to where he is and what we can accomplish when we all work together.

To learn even more visit: www.smelts.org

SMELTS mission: We are committed researching and developing new technologies for rescue and prevention of harmful human interaction on marine life.  We strive to educate communities on how to be stewards of the environment by focusing on the ocean and its global importance to life on Earth.

Check out the deployment of our passive acoustic device with SMELTS unique rig on our YouTube channel HERE!